British Cycling has today named the squads which will represent the Great Britain Cycling Team at the forthcoming UCI Road World Championships in Doha, Qatar, from 9-16 October.

Fresh from his Olympic medal on the track in Rio, Mark Cavendish has been selected for the men’s road races along with fellow Rio Olympians Steve Cummings, Ian Stannard and Geraint Thomas, who are included in the short- list as is current national champion Adam Blythe.

Reigning women’s world champion Lizzie Deignan (nee Armitstead) has made selection for the women’s elite race, as has national champion Hannah Barnes along with her sister and under-23 national champion Alice. Hannah will also represent Great Britain in the time trial event as will current national time trial champion Hayley Simmonds.

Iain Dyer, head coach for British Cycling, said: “The depth of talent available to us on the road this year has been exceptional and I believe we have picked strong squads for all the races we are entering. In the men’s race, Mark heads to Doha as one of the clear favourites given the nature of the course and he will have a strong team around him.

“In the women’s squad, we’ve got some real high-calibre contenders with a couple of riders having the capability to be competitive in a sprint finish scenario. I’m really pleased to see a number of under-23 category riders selected for this squad too, I think they will benefit from the experience of riding alongside elite riders.

“There is also a lot of potential in the under-23 men’s category with some young but experienced riders having made selection and this gives us some good options depending how the race develops on the day.”

Great Britain Cycling Team for the 2016 UCI Road World Championships

Elite men road race (nine places qualified for road race, two for time trial)

Adam Blythe
Mark Cavendish
Stephen Cummings
Alex Dowsett
Dan McLay
Luke Rowe
Ian Stannard
Ben Swift
Geraint Thomas
Scott Thwaites

Elite men time trial

To be selected from the above (two places qualified)

Elite women road race (eight places qualified)

Alice Barnes
Hannah Barnes
Lizzie Deignan
Dani King
Laura Massey
Annasley Park
Abby-Mae Parkinson
Eileen Roe

Elite women’s time trial (two places qualified)

Hannah Barnes
Hayley Simmonds

Under-23 men road race (six places qualified)

Gabriel Cullaigh
Scott Davies
Jon Dibben
Chris Latham
Tao Geoghegan Hart
James Shaw

Under-23 men time trial

To be selected from the above (two places qualified)